Heretofore, there has been known in the prior art a plug-in fuse carrier which has been operable as a surge-current or over-current protector in connection with the cross-connection of two rows of terminals of a telephone terminal block, conventionally referred to as an AT&T Style 110 Block, which is commonly used within telephone and other electronic applications. Such a fuse carrier is illustrated and described within U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,264 which was issued to William E. Ruehl et al., and is assigned to the same assignee as that of the present patent application. More par- ticularly, such a fuse carrier is adapted to be mounted on the top section of a two-piece interfitting housing which, in turn, is adapted to be mounted upon the aforenoted telephone terminal block in order to cross-connect two rows of terminals of the telephone terminal block as is illustrated within the aforenoted pending patent application Ser. No. 07/923,249.
While the foregoing surge-current or over-current protector has in fact provided the necessary current protection requirements, it has been realized that in conjunction with particular or specific telephone terminal blocks, arrangements, or applications, another type of protector may be preferable. For example, in connection with a particular or specific telephone terminal block, arrangement, or application, when the associated circuits of the block, arrangement or application experience surge-current or over-current conditions wherein the current levels are such as to cause the fuse elements or components of the aforenoted fuse carrier to be blown in order to open and protect the associated circuits of the telephone block, the fuse carriers, having the blown fuses incorporated therein, must necessarily be removed from the aforenoted two-piece inter-fitting housing, disposed of, and replaced by means of new fuse carriers having operative fuse elements or components disposed therein. A need therefore exists for surge-current or over-current protector packages which do not employ disposable fuse carriers, having fuse elements or components disposed therein which are susceptible to failure by being blown out as a result of experiencing an excessive amount of current during current surges or over-current conditions, whereby the need for removing and replacing such fuse carriers, and their associated fuse elements or components, is eliminated. More particularly, a need exists, toward which the present invention is directed, for surge-current or over-current protector packages which provide essentially the same type of surge-current or over-current protection, but in lieu of necessitating removal and replacement, the packages contain or comprise devices which are automatically resettable to their operative states once the surge-current or over-current condition has been eliminated or has abated.
In addition to the foregoing need and operational objectives and characteristics, in order to simplify manufacture of the two-piece housings, minimize manufacturing costs, and to render the various housings compatible with the same terminal blocks, it is further desired to provide similar or standardized housings regardless of whether or not the housings will accommodate replaceable fuse elements or resettable current limiting protection devices, such as, for example, positive-temperature-coefficient (PTC) devices.